After months of swirling rumors, Chase is making it official: The bank is raising the annual fee on the *chase sapphire reserve* from its current $550 price point to a whopping $795 a year while giving the card a fresh look and adding a boatload of new, money-saving credits for everything from hotel stays to dining to concert tickets.
It's a massive overhaul for one of the most popular premium travel cards on the market and the first fee increase on the Reserve Card in more than five years. Chase executives also hinted they'll pair this relaunch with a massive welcome bonus – perhaps rivaling or maybe even exceeding the card's 100,000-point bonus when it first launched almost a decade ago – once it opens for new applicants next week.
These big changes aren't live just yet. New applicants can apply for the revamped (and pricier) Reserve Card starting next Monday, June 23. Existing cardholders, meanwhile, won't pay the higher fee until renewal dates of Oct. 27 and onward … but also won't start receiving the card's new benefits until that date.
It's the biggest news in a slew of major changes unveiled Tuesday. Chase also confirmed it's tweaking its application and eligibility requirements to allow travelers to hold both the Reserve and *chase sapphire preferred* cards simultaneously; introducing a new high-end Sapphire Reserve for Business card; and eventually making major changes to how cardholders can redeem points through the Chase Travel portal for extra value.
At $795 a year, it makes the Reserve Card the priciest premium travel card on the market available to everyday travelers, vaulting even past its notoriously pricey competitor, *amex platinum* – at least until that card gets its own facelift this fall. And at first blush, it looks like Chase copied a page out of Amex's playbook by loading up its flagship card with a massive sum of hard-to-use credits in order to justify a fee hike.
But many of the Reserve Card's new perks are doled out in annual or twice-a-year sums – not, as top Chase executive Sam Palmer said in a not-so-subtle dig at Amex, “12 credits of a small amount.” That doesn't mean every cardholder will maximize the $2,700-plus in value Chase is now touting … but it does make it easier – or at least less annoying to keep tabs on.
All the while, few of the card's longtime benefits are disappearing or even changing. Its incredibly easy-to-use annual $300 travel credit remains unchanged. Even after its competitors made cutbacks at their own lounges, Reserve cardholders can still bring two free guests free into Chase Sapphire Lounges. One of the few potentially negative changes is that rather than earning a flat 3x points on all travel spending – whether it's a flight, an online travel agency booking, or an Uber ride – cardholders will instead now earn 4x points only on flights and hotels booked direct.
Change is in the air at Chase – and there's a lot of it in store. Let's dive in.
Breakdown of Benefits, New and Old
It's in with old as well as the new, as Chase is mainly adding to its flagship card while doing little subtracting.
First thing's first: There's that higher annual fee. Existing cardholders will begin paying $795 a year starting Oct. 27 – meaning anyone whose Reserve Card renews before late October will pay another year at $550. Anyone who applies for the Reserve Card after it relaunches next Monday, June 23 will pay that higher fee right off the bat.
The fee to add an authorized user is going up, too: From just $75 per cardholder all the way to $195 per additional card.
And then there's the laundry list of benefits, new and old. New applicants will get them all starting next week, while existing cardholders won't get access until that same date in late October – even if you pay the lower annual fee for another year.
- Welcome Bonus: We don't know … yet. While the Reserve Card is still offering its usual, 60,000-point bonus after spending $5,000 in three months, bank executives hinted something much bigger is coming next week.
- Changing! Earn 8x points on all purchases through the Chase Travel℠ portal
- Cardmembers previously earned 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and rental cars
- Changing! Earn 4x points booking flights and hotels direct
- Cardmembers previously earned 3x points on all travel purchases, not just those made directly
- Earn 3x points on all dining purchases remains untouched
- Complimentary access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, Priority Pass Lounges, and select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges for the cardholder and two guests
- Annual $300 travel credit for all travel purchases remains unchanged
- $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS every four years stays in place
- New! $500 in annual hotel credits for 1,100-plus properties in Chase Travel's “The Edit” portfolio with additional benefits like a $100 onsite credit, complimentary breakfast for two, space-available upgrades, and more
- Split into two, $250 credits available from January through June and again from July through December. Must book at least a two-night stay
- New! Automatic IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status
- Cardholders can bump up to top-tier Diamond Elite Status by spending $75,000 on their Reserve each calendar year
- Changing! Expanded “PointsBoost” redemptions in Chase Travel on select premium cabin flights and hotels, where each point is worth 2 cents apiece
- Chase will officially sunset the 1.5-cent-per-point redemptions on all travel through the portal as of Oct. 26, 2027. Until then, existing cardholders can continue redeeming points for enhanced value on all travel bookings – but only for points earned prior to Oct. 26, 2025.
- New! $300 annual dining credit at select “Sapphire Reserve Dining” restaurants bookable through OpenTable
- Split into two, $150 credits available from January through June and again from July through December
- New! Complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music – a $250 value
- New! $300 annual StubHub credit for concert and event tickets
- Split into two, $150 credits available from January 1 through June 30, and again from July 1 through December 31 for purchases on StubHub.com and viagogo.com. Activation required.
- New! $120 in Peloton credits annually towards memberships
- Cardholders will still earn 10x points on Peloton equipment and accessories
- $120 in Lyft credits annually, split into $10 monthly allotments
- Up to $300 for DoorDash annually including two $10 monthly discounts toward non-restaurant orders, $5 a month off restaurant orders, and a complimentary DashPass membership
- Excellent travel insurance policies for trip delay, trip interruption, rental cars, and more
- Changing! Annual fee of $795 – up from $550 a year
- Authorized user fees are also increasing from $75 per card to $195
Chase is also adding in some sweeteners to encourage big spenders to keep pulling out their Reserve card. In addition to that bump up to IHG Diamond Status, cardholders who spend $75,000 or more on their Reserve will also get:
- Automatic Southwest A-List status
- A $500 travel credit for Southwest Airlines (when booking through Chase Travel)
- A $250 credit for the new “Shops at Chase”
Whew, got all that? That's a long, long list of new and changing benefits – a mix of travel-focused perks and lifestyle credits. Chase pegs the total value of the card north of $2,700 a year.
Putting all that to use is probably a stretch. Fortunately, Chase is making it a bit easier to do so than some of its competitors (cough – American Express) by making most of these new money-saving credits available either throughout the full year or split into two biannual credits. That sure beats remembering to use up $10 or $20 credits each and every month.
“What we have really focused on – and I hope that it comes through – is that our credits are very easy to find and they are meaningful,” Sam Palmer, the General Manager of Chase Sapphire, said during a media event previewing the changes. “It's not something that you have to track every single month and say: ‘I need to enable that, I need to enable that.'”
Perhaps most importantly, that tried-and-true $300 annual travel credit is sticking around – and isn't changing at all. Honestly, we're shocked that Chase won't start requiring cardholders to make those purchases through its travel portal in order to trigger it – a common move throughout the industry.
Big Bonus Coming?
Chase might be saving the biggest and best news for last.
The bank nearly broke the internet when it launched the Reserve Card back in 2016 with a 100,000-point welcome bonus – then an almost unthinkable sum of points. The card was so popular that Chase briefly ran out of the metal it used to manufacture the cards.
The bank is staying tight-lipped about what's in store this time around … but it's clear something bigger is in the works.
“When we do communicate our acquisition bonus, I think you will see we are thinking about acquisition as well,” Palmer said.
Cryptic … but promising! To be clear: We have no inside intel on exactly what's brewing at Chase HQ. But let's do some speculation, shall we?
Given how explosive the card's initial launch nearly a decade ago, a return of the 100,000-point bonus seems like the absolute minimum here. A $795 annual fee is a much tougher sell, but nothing convinces travelers to get past the sticker shock quite like an eye-popping bonus.
Plus, six-digit bonuses don't move the needle the same way they did in 2016. American Express's top cards that previously offered 60,000 points to lure in new cardholders have upped the ante to 120,000 points, 150,000 points, or even 175,000 points. Heck, even Chase's $95-a-year card has offered 100,000-point welcome bonuses twice within just the last four years.
Let me be clear again: I don't know what the number will be or when Chase will spill the beans. But I'd be surprised if it's not big – bigger than ever.
Bottom Line
What's old is new again: The new Chase Sapphire Reserve is (almost) here.
After weeks if not months of rumors, the bank finally unveiled what's in store for its flagship travel card: A much higher annual fee and tons of new perks while leaving nearly all of the Reserve's existing benefits untouched.
An annual fee hike is never easy for current cardholders to swallow – especially when that increase puts it just shy of $800 a year. What say you, travelers?
Any hints about whether welcome bonuses on the new Reserve card will be available to those of us who already have a Sapphire Preferred in our wallet? Will the 48-month rule still apply?
Hi Curtis,
We don’t have specifics yet, but Chase is changing the bonus restrictions to allow you to hold both the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve at the same time. We expect them to remove the “family” restriction, but there will still be a waiting period between earning bonuses. If you’ve never earned a bonus on the CSR (only CSP), you should be in the clear to apply and get a bonus. More to come…
I wonder if the $250 bi-annual hotel credit can be used with the $300 annual travel credit? So spend $550 at a hotel and full amount covered or I am dreaming here?
We stay in a lot of airbnb properties, do you know if Airbnb‘s will still be 3X or will they fall down to 1 X?
I’m not interested in a bunch of these brands that are included in the new benefits. So as an old-school member, I’m actually inclined to reassess my cards given this price hike. The benefits don’t feel like benefits when it’s peloton and Lyft, etc..